Who Says Good Food has to be Hard?

Super Easy Stuffed Peppers?  Nope.  Not kidding.  Love these things because they're easier than they look and they freeze really well too!

• 2 or cups of cooked rice, bulgar wheat or your other favorite grain (prepare according to package)
• 1 lb.  browned ground beef, loose sausage, Gimme Lean (or equivalent in prepared veggie crumbles)
• 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
• optional Cheese/Daiya, breadcrumbs, etc.
• PEPPERS!  6 medium or 4 large.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the Sauce, beef/sausage/whatever and the rice in a big bowl.  Core and devein the peppers, then cut them in half vertically.

Stuff pepper halves generously with filling.  Bake for 40 minutes or until peppers are tender.  Top with cheese and/or breadcrumbs with about 10 minutes left in the baking time.

***

You don't have to cut the peppers in half.  I usually do if they're GIANT peppers or if I'm planning on freezing the leftovers for lunches.  A whole pepper is nearly impossible to reheat at work without destroying it.

Wait, What Kind of Chips? Kale chips?

Yup.  Kale chips.  After this afternoon, I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in them, but hopefully the D&D groups demolishes them tomorrow night.  If not, I'm going to be eating A LOT of kale this week.

I guess Natalie started it, if that's fair to say.  She's the one who brought a box of them with her last week.  Then Obes tried them and liked them.  And then Dave.  I passed because they were salt and vinegar flavor, but remarked that I've made them in the past and I really liked them.

A bit of back and forth was had about someone bringing more next week, and no, I will, and so on.  And I sort of thought that would be the end of it.  Figured, maybe this coming week, somebody brings some.  Or not, whatever.

Until this weekend, Dave and I went grocery shopping.  We eat TONS of veggies.  I think we polished off a pound and a half of roasted cauliflower last night.  He sees neat little bundles of kale and remarks that I should make kale chips for gaming.  Next thing we've got 3 bunches of kale in the cart and a whole list of different flavors I'm supposed to make today, since I only had a half day.

Well, I can't remember what the flavors were supposed to be, so Dave's getting what I feel like, HA! but I figured I've share the basic recipe for these tasty little buggers, since it's been a while since I've posted a new recipe.

So, without further delay!

Kale Chips

1 bunch kale

Cooking Spray or your favorite oil in a sprayer or Misto

Salt (any kind)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Wash and thoroughly dry kale.  Tear into bite-sized pieces (stay on the big side, they'll shrink some).

Arrange kale in a single layer on a cookie sheet or in a large shallow baking pan.  (I've seen that some people like to throw parchment paper in the bottom.)  Spray generously with oil - I like olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt to taste.

Bake chips for approximately 20-25 minutes.  Turn/stir them about halfway through.  Keep an eye on them so that they only dry/toast.  Do not let them burn.   It's gross.

Enjoy!  Make more than you think you'll need, they don't last long.

If you have leftovers, or you're making them ahead, let them cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Other options:

• add black pepper and garlic powder, for a simple but flavorful seasoning
• taco seasoning
• McCormick Parmesan Herb Perfect Pinch plus grated or shredded parmesan cheese
• Ranch or other dressing mix
• curry powder

or whatever other seasonings you love!

Give Pasole a Chance

So, quite some time ago, Lisa introduced me to the wonder that is Pasole (puh-soe-lay), which if you don't know, is a DELICIOUS chile-laden Mexican pork stew with hominy.  It's often served over rice and topped with lovely things like, sliced jalapenos, various shredded or crumbled fresh cheeses or crushed tortilla chips.

After pairing down the recipe slightly (I'm not sure she meant to send me the version that calls for 6 POUNDS of hominy), Dave and I are giving it a shot today.

We had bought a very large pork tenderloin at Sam's Club for an outrageously low price.  As much as I hate Walmart, it's hard to argue with $20 for an 11lb. tenderloin.  We brought it home and cut it into more manageable pieces.  Two of these piece were cooked at pot roasts and the broth was set aside for making pasole.  A third eventually became the sausage in my last post.  The last piece is currently simmering in the crockpot as a nearly finished pasole.

Various dried/smoked chiles are first toasted slightly, then softened in hot broth.  The pork gets cubed, salted and browned.  The hominy get broken up and rinsed.  The meat and hominy get added to another, larger pot of hot broth and once the chiles have been given a quick spin in the blender, they're added too.

Loads of garlic, cumin, and since I didn't have epazote, oregano.  It's got a long simmer time left, but so far, it's delicious.

By the way, have I mentioned, I love having someone around to cook with?

Homemade Sausage

So, Dave and I had a blast cooking again this week.  I've been wanting to make homemade sausage forever.  I begged my mom to get me the food grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid just for that reason, in fact, but in something like 7 years, I've never actually made sausage.

I've used it for salsa of all kinds: hot, mild, cucumber, pineapple, green, red, you name it.  I've used to grind venison for chili and burgers.  I used it once or twice for fruit to make popsicles.

So, I had a pork roast thawed out and we decided to finally give homemade sausage a try.  It was loose sausage because it was too late to hit up the farmer's market for sausage casing.  We had a container of roasted tomatoes from Wegman's, and some leftover shredded parm.

We put all of that through the grinder along with whole pink peppercorns, whole fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, sea salt, chili oil, garlic, basil, oregano.  And it was delicious!  I made meat sauce with it and while I worried over the sauce, Dave cooked asparagus with bacon and parmesan cheese.

Next time I'll measure and share the recipe.  :-)

Holy Mole!

So, one of the things that Dave has mixed feelings about is the fact that when I've had a rough day, I like to cook elaborate things for dinner to make myself feel better.  He says that he hates to hear that I've had a rotten day but at the same time, he really enjoys when I cook elaborate dinners.

A few weeks ago when I had not that great day, I made homemade chicken cordon bleu with rapini in a balsamic vinegar glaze and a bulgar wheat salad.  This week I had a frustrating day and came home and made a pretty damn good mole poblano with red chile rice and really garlicky black beans.

Mole Poblano is one of my favorite dishes from Senora's Authentic Mexican in West Chester.  Because it's delicious and not something that I get very often and, you know, chocolate for dinner.  I looked up a few different recipes, spent a few minutes horrified that they ranged from 6 ingredients to something like 37, and decided to call Lisa for a sanity check for I just made it up as I went.

I had some Mexican chocolate and added garlic, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cocoa powder, part of a stale fausnaut, and honestly, I'm not sure what all else, but it was delicious once it cooked with the chicken, and I'm going to call it a total victory!  Sometime I'll have to do it again and actually pay attention to what I'm adding.  :-)

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

On second thought, have a recipe anyway.

1/2 lb Apple Sausage (I think any sweet sausage, like Maple Sage would work)
1 Granny Smith Apple (or other tart apple)
A generous Handful of Dried Cranberries
3/4 cup of chicken stock
8 Slices of hearty Multigrain Bread (we like Arnold's Whole Grain Health Nut Bread)
Vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees/

Remove casing (if any) from the sausage, crumble and brown in just a bit of oil - the sugar in the apples tends to make the sausage stick.  Save the drippings.

While sausage is browning, cut bread slices into 3/4 inch squares and apple into 1/2 inch cubes.

When sausage is done, mix all ingredients, including drippings in a baking dish or over safe mixing bowl (I love my PYREX!)  Use more or less stock as needed, just make sure most of the bread is moist.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until apples are tender.

Chaos!

So, no recipe this week, even though I had hoped to have another.  It's total chaos here and I'm actually really ok with it.  Dave moved in the rest of his furniture and took the ex's stuff to Lisa to replace her old sofa and arm chair.

Plus sides, Lisa really needed newer stuff, I'm not stuck with a sofa I never really wanted anymore, and Dave feels much more at ease having the rest of his stuff out of his old apartment.  Also, new gas grill just as mine started to need repairs.

Downsides, we never really got a chance to get everything settled and we both got sick.  At least it's not a horrible cold, but it really lingers.  All we've gotten put together is comfy place to curl up with the cats and watch TV.  But we'll get there.